This invention relates to a floor and bounded surface sweeper machine, in particular of the type usually employed to sweep indoor surfaces clean such as the floor areas of workshops and warehouses, as well as such outdoor surfaces as parking areas, courtyards, and no-traffic areas.
Such sweepers usually comprise, as is known, a wheel-mounted frame supporting at the top steering devices and drive members, and at the bottom a cylindrical brush having its axis parallel to the surface to be swept and at least one substantially upstanding frustoconical brush.
With the frame there is also engaged a container adapted to collect trash and dirt being swept, and located adjacent the cylindrical brush to which it presents a loading mouth. The container is also usually provided with a suction mouth facing a suction assembly of the machine which cooperates to deliver the swept trash to the container, and which filters out dust.
Whereas large size sweepers, designed for street sweeping, usually have said trash container lifted and shifted by specially provided hydraulic members operated directly from the driver's station, with the sweepers for floors and bounded surfaces, forming the subject matter of this patent, the subject container must be handled manually by an operator.
In particular, the container should be inserted in an empty state and then removed at least each time that it is substantially filled. For insertion it must be lifted by hand and then locked accurately and sealingly against a special seating provided below the frame. For removal the container must be taken off without sharp blows or sudden falls from the working level, to avoid spreading dust and trash.
Moreover, it is observed that if the container is located improperly on the machine, there may occur unacceptable spreading over the ground of the trash being conveyed by the cylindrical brush, as well as interference with the operation of the cited suction assembly, in communication with the container through a suction mouth of the latter.
This situation and the fact that the subject container is usually handled by unskilled personnel often wearing hand protecting gloves have in practice dictated in this type machines, heretofore, that said container be located at the forward end or the rear end of the sweeper. Selection of the forward or rear part of the machine depends on the path which the swept products are made to follow.
At these positions the container is in full view and easily accessed to, and hence easier to grip and handle by hand, as well as easier to check with respect to its location accuracy.
The state of the art provides, to enable manual insertion and withdrawal of the container, such first means as for example rigid chest-type guides, for positioning the container, and such second means as for example handles, handgrips, and the like for lifting the container up to the guides.
In any case the operator is required to operate at successive times means for lifting or lowering the container and means of inserting or withdrawing same, level with the working plane. The container locking and releasing operations are thus comparatively inconvenient and time-consuming, despite the cited accessibility to the container.
These drawbacks are of considerable practical moment, given that handling and precision positioning of the container is one of the most important tasks of an operator with this machine type. Positioning the container at the forward or rear ends of these machines not only fails to satisfactorily solve said problems of container handling but also gives rise to a serious drawback: the container interferes with the wheels, thus conditioning their location. Where the container is provided, moreover, it is impossible to provide a single central steering wheel.